The 17th Infantry Regiment was organized in Stewart
County, Georgia, during the summer of 1861. Its members were from Columbus
and Decatur, and the counties of Webster, Schley, Harris, and Stewart.
Ordered to Virginia the regiment was assigned to General Toombs' and later
Benning's Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. It served with the army from
the Seven Days' Battles to Cold Harbor, except when it was on detached duty
with Longstreet at Suffolk, Chickamauga, and Knoxville. The 17th was active
in the Petersburg trenches north of the James River and around Appomattox.
In April, 1862, it totaled 398 men, had 5 killed and 30 wounded at Malvern
Hill, and lost fifty-one percent of the 200 engaged at Second Manassas. Of
the 350 who saw action at Gettysburg, twenty-nine percent were disabled, and
from April 14 to May 6, there were 86 casualties, then from August 1 to
December 31, 1864, the unit had 45 killed or wounded. It surrendered with 18
officers and 168 men. The field officers were Colonels Henry L. Benning and
Wesley C. Hodges; Lieutenant Colonels William A. Barden and Charles W.
Matthews, and Majors James B. Moore, John H. Pickett, and Thomas Walker.